Privacy Statement

Witwatersrand Insurance Brokers (WitsInsure) is an independent insurance broker providing insurance and consulting services. WitsInsure is committed to protecting your privacy. This commitment reflects the value we place on earning and keeping the trust of our customers, business partners, and others who share their personal information with us.

What does this Privacy Statement do?

This Privacy Statement (“Statement”) explains WitsInsure’s information processing practices. It applies to any personal information you provide to WitsInsure and any personal information we collect from other sources. This Statement details our practices and of your rights regarding your personal information. This is not a contractual document, and it does not create any rights or obligations on either party, beyond those which already exist under data the Protection of Personal Information Act. The Act is built on 8 pillars or conditions:

1.       Accountability

2.       Processing limitations

3.       Purpose specification

4.       Further processing limitation

5.       Information quality

6.        Openness

7.       Security safeguards

8.       Data subject participation

Who is responsible for your information? (Accountability)

Throughout this Statement, “WitsInsure” refers to Witwatersrand  Insurance Brokers. WitsInsure is responsible for your personal information (and the controller for the purposes of data protection laws) will be the member of WitsInsure that originally collects information from or about you.

WitsInsure collects personal information from its clients to provide risk based services, such as  risk management, insurance broking, and claims handling.

WitsInsure uses personal information to deliver services to clients. For its own purposes, it also uses personal information to analyse and improve how it delivers those services, to contact representatives of its clients or prospective clients and to market to them.

If WitsInsure uses your personal information, you will have certain important rights which you can exercise. The rights you will be able to exercise will depend on how and why WitsInsure uses your information.

When and how do we collect your information?

WitsInsure collects personal information in the following ways:

  • When we perform services for our clients. Our services and products include insurance broking, claims management, risk management consulting, other forms of insurance services. In these cases, your personal information will normally be provided to us by our clients (or advisors or service providers acting on behalf of our clients). We may also need to obtain information from third parties such as insurance companies, insurance brokers or agents and publicly available sources.
  • When you request a service from us. For example, if you ask us to obtain insurance quotes or submit and process a claim on your behalf.


What information do we collect? (Information Quality)

When you request services, we ask that you provide accurate and necessary information that enables us to respond to your request. Personal information is used for the purposes for which it was provided to us as stated at the point of collection or as obvious from the context of collection, for example providing an insurance quote, submitting a claim, renewing an existing policy, etc.

Information we collect from clients or third parties

When we provide the services listed above for our clients, we may collect personal information such as your name, ID number, contact details, date of birth, gender, marital status, financial details and employment details.

We will not collect any sensitive information relating to: race or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or other similar beliefs; trade union membership; physical or mental health; sexual life or criminal records.

How do we use your personal information? (Purpose Specification)

The following is a summary of the purposes for which we use personal information.

Performing services for our clients

We process personal information which our clients provide to us in order to perform our professional consultancy and risk based advisory services.

Administering our client engagements

We process personal information about our clients and the individual representatives of our corporate clients in order to:

·         carry out client communication, service, billing and administration;

·         deal with client complaints;

·         administer claims;

·         Provide information and services as requested by you;

·         Determine eligibility and process applications for products and services;

·         Provide information and services as requested by clients;

·         Understand and assess clients’ ongoing needs and offer products and services to meet those needs;

·         Conduct processing necessary to fulfil other contractual obligations for the individual.

If we wish to use your personal information for a purpose which is not compatible with the purpose for which it was collected for, we will request your consent. In all cases, we balance our legal use of your personal information with your interests, rights, and freedoms in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to make sure that your personal information is not subject to unnecessary risk.

Legal basis (Processing Limitation)

All processing (i.e. use) of your personal information is justified by a “lawful basis” for processing. In the majority of cases, processing will be justified on the basis that:

·         the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party,

·      the processing is necessary for us to comply with a relevant legal obligation (e.g. where we are required to collect certain information about our clients for tax or accounting purposes, or where we are required to make disclosures to courts or regulators); or

·         the processing is in our legitimate commercial interests, subject to your interests and fundamental rights

How long do we retain your personal information? (Purpose Specification)

How long we retain your personal information depends on the purpose for which it was obtained and its nature. We will keep your personal information for the period necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Statement unless a longer retention period is permitted by law, in accordance with the WitsInsure Record Retention Policy.

In specific circumstances we may store your personal information for longer periods of time so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us in the event of any complaints or challenges, or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation relating to your personal information or dealings.

Do we disclose your personal information?

We do not share your personal information with third parties except in the following circumstances discussed below.

Business Partners

We disclose personal information to business partners who provide services to us, or who co-operate with us on projects. These business partners operate as separate controllers, and are responsible for their own compliance with data protection laws. You should refer to their privacy notices for more information about their practices.

Examples include:

  • Insurance broking and insurance products – insurers, reinsurers, other insurance intermediaries, insurance reference bureaus, credit bureaus, fraud detection agencies, our advisers such as loss adjusters, lawyers and accountants and others involved in the claims handling process


Legal Requirements

We may disclose personal information (i) if we are required to do so by law, legal process, statute, rule, regulation, or professional standard, or to respond to a subpoena, search warrant, or other legal request. (ii) in response to law enforcement authority or other government official requests, (iii) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss, (iv) in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity or (v) in the event that WitsInsure is subject to a merger or acquisition to the new owner of the business.

 

Do we have security measures in place to protect your information? (Security Safeguards)

The security of your personal information is important to us and WitsInsure has implemented reasonable physical, technical and administrative security standards to protect personal information from loss, misuse, alteration or destruction. We protect your personal information against unauthorized access, use or disclosure, using security technologies and procedures, such as encryption.

What choices and rights do you have about your personal information? (Openness) & (Data Subject Participation)

We offer certain choices about how we communicate with our customers and what personal information we obtain about them and share with others.

Right to Access

You have right to access personal information which WitsInsure holds about you.

Right to Rectification

You have a right to request us to correct your personal information where it is inaccurate or out of date.

Right to be Forgotten (Right to Erasure)

You have the right to have your personal information erased. Your information can only be erased if your data is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, and we have no other legal ground for processing the data.

Right to Restrict Processing

You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal information, but only where:

·         its accuracy is contested, to allow us to verify its accuracy; or

·         the processing is unlawful, but you do not want it erased; or

·       it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, but we still need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Right to Object to Processing

You have the right to object the processing of your personal information at any time, but only where that processing has our legitimate interests as its legal basis. If you raise an objection, we have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate interests which override your rights and freedoms.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, would like further information about our privacy and information handling practices, would like to discuss opt-outs or withdrawing consent, or would like to make a complaint about a breach of the Act or this Statement, please contact us.

This Statement was last updated on 1 July 2021.